Supernatural Season 10 Episode 2 Review — “Reichenbach”

Fans cannot get over how perfect this episode was with developing the main characters and our new favourite, Cole. In the last review (click here), we said we wanted to know more about what Sam was going through, and this second episode followed through and then some. Demon-Dean’s characterisation was also dealt with more than we could have hoped for, showing us how different Dean Winchester is as a black-eyed demon.

Sam has been fighting to find where his brother has run off to for the last four months, since the end of Season 9. Season 9 marked the end of an era when it comes to the Winchester brothers. The family business is no more, and that means, with Dean gone, that Sam has nothing to work for anymore except to save Dean. Until this episode, Sam did not know that Dean had been a demon since his disappearance so now, not only is he fighting to find his brother; he is also fighting for his brother’s humanity. We got a chance in this episode to see how helpless Sam is but also how unwilling he is to give up on Dean. It is the perfect mirror of the beginning of Season 9 when Dean was willing to try by any means possible to save Sam, and now in Season 10, Sam is hell bent on saving Dean. I was delighted for this comparison. Seeing Sam slap the handcuffs on Demon-Dean was the perfect climax to the episode.

We keep talking about Demon-Dean in these reviews, but Jensen Ackles’ performance is what is making the programme sing right now. After ten years, it is incredibly difficult to do something brand new to a show, and with Ackles delivering such a convincing Demon-Dean they have managed to pull it off. Dean in this episode is a bit of an enigma, his confrontation with Cole and Crowley displays his natural demon self which was unbelievably satisfying to watch, but something that many may not have picked up on in the episode was the piano scene when Sam and Dean first met. Dean was sitting at the piano playing a few bars (also what?? Dean can play the piano??) and drinking scotch. What was he playing though? Dean was playing ‘Hey Jude’, the lullaby his mother sang to him when he was a child. Why was he playing this? Could this mean he’s still sentimental? Could this mean he’s not fully demonised? Or maybe Dean is playing this as a mockery to his childhood, his innocence. We might never know, but it is definitely something to think about when it comes to Dean’s character.

Last week’s episode was a bit disappointing, but I would say many of our expectations were unrealistic for a forty minute show, but the second episode of the season made up for it in leaps and bounds. I have never been more excited for a Supernatural season. We are (once again) counting down the days until the next episode as if this were a brand new show!